


All paths leads to you

by WizzyGold



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, Adventurer!Belle, Adventures, Belle - Freeform, Episode AU: s01e12 Skin Deep, F/M, Fluff, Post-Episode: s01e12 Skin Deep, TLK never happened, True Love, dark one - Freeform, rumple - Freeform, skin deep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 02:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5074021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizzyGold/pseuds/WizzyGold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would have happened if Belle had never returned from the town after fetching straw?</p>
            </blockquote>





	All paths leads to you

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This takes place after Rumple tells Belle to go. She does. 
> 
> I always wondered what would have happened if Belle had left, had Regina not intervened

_“I’ll tell you what – I’ll make you a deal. Go to town and fetch me some straw. When you return, I’ll share my tale.”_

_“But… Town? You… You trust me to come back?” Belle said, disbelief in her tone._

__“Oh, no. I expect I’ll never see you again”_ _._ Rumpelstiltskin answered, his tone sure if a little sad. _

_  
_Belle thought about the last words he ever said to her. He had granted her freedom, a chance to return to her father, to return to the life she had been taken away from. To be Gaston’s fiancée again. She made a frown at that last thought. She didn’t want to return just to be Gaston’s little wife. He wasn’t a bad man, he would be a decent husband, but there was no love between them, only a polite friendship if that. They never talked, not like the conversations with Rumple. But she had been a prisoner and it had taken months for him to open up even a little bit. She couldn’t go back to being that again. And she couldn’t go back to her kingdom.

    
She didn’t have a home anymore, not a real one anyway. 

  
Belle kept walking. Maybe it was time to finally see the world. To have adventures. Maybe, she could be happy then, it had been her dream since she had been a little girl. Before the deal, before befriending a Dark One. She had been happy, in the Dark Castle. For a time. She could easily forget that she was a prisoner, he could make her forget, when they were taking tea, and he finally began telling her about his travels. 

  
But sometimes, in the middle of the night, when she couldn’t shot down her brain, she couldn’t put it past her the fact that she didn’t really belong, that she wasn’t free to make her choices, not really. 

  
In the end, she went to see the world. Trying to convince herself that she would be happy then, fulfilling a long time dream.

  
She befriended a Dwarf, helped him get the courage to get the girl of his dreams, the fairy of his dreams, actually. And she dream about her friend that night. Dream about taking tea, sitting together side by side, sharing a few chaste kisses between sweet whispered words. When she woke up, she convinced herself that the dream was a mixture of helping another find his true love, nothing more.

  
He had given her a token of appreciation, thanking her for the advice, a bad of fairy dust, she had refused at first, but he had been adamant, saying that it would protect her should she need it. She took it, pocket it and promptly forgot about it. There was no magic solution to her problems.

  
She traveled for a few weeks, sleeping in the forest, doing a few shifts on local taverns when her income was running low, meeting new people, befriending others. Never staying in one place for too long. It seemed…wrong. She was always restless, never quite happy but never quite sad. She started to miss him when two moons had passed. It had started with the silliest thing. She had said a joke to a girl in the tavern, something she had remembered had caused her to fall on a pit of giggles when he had said it, but the girl didn’t laugh, just looked at her funny and changed the subject. 

  
Then, she had started to miss his eyes, the shade of those orbs always reminded her of the forests, now she thought about his look when she had finally left with her basket three moons ago.

  
She started to grow a bit more reclusive, even more restless. She started to learn how to sword fight. There were books about it and she had bought a light, small sword in a market when her journeys had begun. Learning techniques from a book wasn’t the same as learning with an instructor, but nobody was willing to teach her. So when at the fifth moon mark, a hunting group had begun searching for a yaoguai, she joined.

  
The men were wary of her, even if she dressed as them, with leather trousers, a silk shirt and a leather vest, she was still a woman. But she was going to prove them that she could fight and be in adventures too. That following her dreams wasn’t a mistake. 

  
Her investigation had let them to the lake, but there was nothing there. At this, the men started to question her, she apologized, but they were hearing nothing of it. 

  
One of them was holding her down and said “See, you know what I think happened? I think you sent us in the wrong direction on purpose.” He was snarling at her, and Belle tried to keep him as far away from her face at possible, her heartbeat going a mile a minute, pounding, she was starting to feel threatened and she tried to grab the sword that was at her belt, but the man noticed the movement and held her hand, squeezing and making her let out a yelp of pain. “What did you think you were going to do, woman?“ 

  
Other of the man barked a laugh "She was trying to fight ye, Bruce. As if a woman could do anything with a sword”

  
Bruce started to grin maniacally “Maybe we should teach her a lesson, don’t you think little woman. Teach you your place?" 

  
Leave her alone! A voice yelled from behind Belle, making everyone glanced in the direction of the sound. 

  
It was a soldier. His armor was a little strange, but she had seen pictures of it in her books. It was a common wear among these areas. More leather than metal, to fight with agility instead of pure strength. 

  
Bruce, the one holding her, dropped Belle unceremoniously to the ground, hard, and unsheathed his sword. "Oh, yeah? and who is going to stop us? you?”

  
The soldier took out his sword and took a stance. The men didn’t waist any time, yelling as they propelled against the man. He disarms one, easily and then disarms the second one, but he manages to take the helmet of his head, well, her head. It was a woman.

  
“You’re a…” - The woman punched him in the face, taking advantage of his confusion, knocking him out cold.

  
“Yeah, I know.”  The woman went to Belle, helping her up. “Are you ok?” she asked Belle. 

  
“Yes, I - Thank you. I - I let them to the wrong place by mistake. I had read the translation wrong.” Belle explained as she cleaned some mug from her clothes, picking up her book. 

  
“What were you doing with these guys?”

  
“They were hunting the Yaoguai. I told them I could help, that I knew how to track them. There were trying to go south but I convinced them to go east.”

  
“That’s why they were to angry at you.” - she concluded thoughtfully, with a frown on her face - “Still, they shouldn’t have laid a finger on you. I’m Mulan, by the way” Mulan said, taking out her hand to shake with Belle’s.

  
“I’m Belle. And yeah, I’m just glad you were here" 

Mulan nodded "Well, I better go, I’m hunting this thing too. Better head back to town, Belle, before these jerks wake.” She started to turn around when Belle stopped her. “Mulan! wait. Can I..can I go with you? I can help you track it. I’m sure I translated correctly this time”

  
“I don’t know…" 

  
"Please, I won’t get in the way. I don’t think I would really feel safe until I could get out of town.” Belle looked at the men still unconscious, a frown on her face, biting her lower lip. Mulan sighed, as if defeated.

  
“Well, fine, just, do as I say, alright?" 

  
Belle nodded, a smile on her face. "Deal.” It felt wrong to say that word, brought back memories, but she pushed them down. She had a purpose now.

  
They got to tracking, Mulan wasn’t very talkative and these days, neither was Belle, but Mulan told her about her days at the Emperor’s army, how she had to deceit her recruiters when she had started training so that they didn’t enlist her father in the war, passing as her father’s son, not as his daughter.

  
“That must’ve taken a lot of courage” Belle said, amazed.

  
“It was my father” - she responded with a little shrug, as if it were obvious - “when you find something worth fighting for, you never give up. Besides, it all worked out for the best. Now I’m the Emperor’s most trusted soldier. But I have to hunt this beast, for its threatening my home village.”

  
Belle nodded, suddenly pensive.

  
Her thoughts kept returning to her Rumple. Had she given up too soon? She had never heard his tale, about the son that had meant the world to him. Was he worth it? Would he find it in himself to take her back? She didn’t want to be his maid, she wanted more, she just didn’t really know exactly what she did want. He had been so sure that she would never return. How had he felt? Had he even cared? There were moments, fleeting, that made Belle thought he did, like when he rescued her from those witches, or gave her her own library. Oh gods, she didn’t know what to do. She was afraid. She shook her head, she had a beast to deal with. She would deal with this later. 

————————–

In the end, the beast was not a beast, but a man. Cursed. She had used the fairy dust Dreamy had given her all those moons ago, when the man - Phillip - had tried to write on the ground, asking for help. He had been cursed by Maleficent, determined to do everything in her power to keep him apart from Aurora, his true love. So she exiled him to this land, and turned him into a monster. He had been trying to warn the village, but everyone just saw a beast and were rampant about killing him. 

  
Mulan told Philip she would accompany him to help him free Aurora from Maleficent, a sort of an apology for trying to kill him, and when the prince invited Belle to join them, she hesitated.  

  
“I think…I think I have to go. I need to listen to a story.” Belle looked determined.

  
Phillip looked confused, but Mulan understood, Belle hadn’t shared much, but she knew the look of love when she saw it. "Want us to accompany you?” she asked gently.

  
“But Philip…” Belle started, looking torn.

  
“I can wait a few days, if it’s not too far from here. I need to repay you for saving my life.” He smiled, understanding that whatever Belle needed to do, it was important.

  
Belle nodded and smiled. “Thank you, and no, it’s not that far away. Two days walking.”

—–

  
“Your former employer is the Dark One!?” Mulan exclaimed, shocked, when she saw the gates to the Dark Castle.

  
“Yes, yes he is. He isn’t as bad as the stories say, I promise.”

  
“Well, if you could turn this beast into a man” - she pointed at Phillip, who was looking outraged - “I guess the Dark one is just a logical step.”

  
“I was cursed! It wasn’t my fault!” - exclaimed Phillip. Mulan just shrugged, making Belle giggle. 

  
“Honestly, I’m scared, but I miss him terribly and I think I’m supposed to be here.”

  
“Well, If you’re sure. We will accompany you to the front door, but then we’re leaving." 

  
In that moment, the air shifted and the smell of magic filled Belle’s nostrils. 

  
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?” asked the voice she had been dreaming about for months. Her back was to him, so he didn’t see her at first - “You must be quite desperate, for you to come to my front step” - his tone mocking, his voice the high pitch he always used when dealing with strangers.   
  


Mulas was the first to recover, taking Belle by the shoulders. “Not us, actually. But we have someone here that wishes to talk to you” Mulan looked at Belle, who was hissing her name in warning, but the warrior just smiled and winked, turning her around. 

  
Belle stared wide eyed at her former Master, friend, and felt as her cheeks colored a deep red. “Uhm, hi?” - she managed to say out loud, sounding to her ears as a shy five year old, and smiled embarrassed.

  
Rumpelstiltskin’s eyes went wide as saucers  "Be-Belle?“ he asked dumbfounded  "Why…what…” - he flicked his hands, purple smoke enveloping his right hand and froze the warrior and the prince. “They’re fine, I just don’t want them…” - his voice was back to the grave tone he always used with her, the voice of the man, not the Dark One. He cleared his head, his face a blank mask. “What are you doing here, Belle? I thought you would be at home, where you belong" 

  
Belle was rubbing her hands, nervously, trying to form her thoughts into words that would make sense. "If I were to return to my kingdom, papa would have tried to marry me off to Gaston or any other royal, I would have been the little wife, only good for producing heirs. So I didn’t go. I always wanted to travel the world, so I did that. I even broke Phillip’s curse” - she pointed to the frozen prince - “but even if I was fulfilling my childhood dream, I didn’t feel at home. I miss you, Rumple.”

  
“Yes, I’m sure cleaning and cooking were just a dream come true, dearie” he replied in his mocking high tone voice, the sarcasm pouring out of him. 

  
“Don’t be daft, I said I missed you, Rumpelstiltskin, you, not the cleaning and being a maid. But if you don’t want me here, that’s fine. I won’t force you. Just unfreeze my friends and we’ll go!” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, furious with the imp and hurting. 

  
The Dark One seemed to deflate. Dropping his head and looking at her from beneath his eyelashes. “Please don’t.” his tone back to the one of the man - “I-I’ve miss you too. When you didn’t come back I just…" 

  
"I’m sorry for that. But if I stay, I don’t want to be your maid, Rumple. I can’t be bound by a deal. I want to be able to feel free here." 

  
"You felt trapped? with me?” His eyes widened again, hurt and took a step back.

  
“Yes, but not because of you” - she said softly, taking a step towards him - “I love our talks and your stories, sharing everything with you, but I couldn’t leave, not even to town. It wasn’t a life. If I’m to stay here, I want to be your companion." 

  
"You-you would stay, just to be with me? I mean, to keep me company?” he fumbled. Blushing, his scales turning a shade of grey.  

  
Belle nodded, smiling shyly and taking a few steps closer to him. “Besides, you owe me a story” She added, with a twinkle in her eye. 

  
“Aye, I guess I do.” He responded softly, and returned the hug Belle gave him, turning his head to her curls, inhaling her scent, finally feeling happy. Belle furrowed closer to his chest, smelling the leather, magic and straw and something just him that made her body relax and felt finally at home.    
  


**Author's Note:**

> No Beta. Sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language. Drop me a line to tell me your thoughts.


End file.
